


Lean

by hunters_retreat



Series: Story's End [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, Dean raises Sam, John Dies, M/M, Sam and Dean lean on each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 16:07:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4486071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunters_retreat/pseuds/hunters_retreat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam learns that it's okay to lean on Dean sometimes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lean

 

“Well. I did it.”

 

“Did what?” Sam asked, looking up from his homework. He didn’t want to do it but after talking to Bobby on the phone the other night he had begun trying to get his grades back together. Dean’s custody hearing had only been a week ago and he’d been granted temporary custody with a hearing in another 6 months and weekly visits from a court liaison. Bobby pointed out that if Sam’s grades continued to drop that the court might take that bad. Not only that, but Bobby had gone for the low blow. He’d said Dean confided in him that he was worried that Sam wasn’t showing the same interest in school that he had when Dad had been alive. The last thing Sam wanted was to add more to Dean’s plate. So even though he was pretty sure Dean had never said anything about this to Bobby, he bucked it up anyway. The point about the grades and the court had been enough anyway.

 

“I… I got a library card Sammy.” Dean looked like it was the hardest thing in the world which set a smile to Sam’s lips.

 

“You?I mean, you set foot in a library when there wasn’t a hunt involved?”Sam asked, bringing a hand to his heart.“What is this world coming to?Is the building still standing?”

 

Dean chucked him on the back of the head but they were both smiling lighter for it.“Yeah, I got some of those how to books you mentioned.”

 

Sam looked up at Dean and something in him felt lighter.Dean had been feeling a lot of stress about taking the job for Ms. Sunday.He knew some basic things about keeping a place up.Hell, you couldn’t live in run down motels your whole life without knowing how to take care of some basic plumbing and heating issues on your own, but it was different doing it for someone that was putting a lot of trust in you.Sam understood and had only mentioned to Dean that there were some books at the library that might help.He hadn’t expected Dean to go and find them.It made him feel better, like he’d helped Dean in a small way.Didn’t mean he wasn’t going to tease him while he could though.

 

“Dummies guide to parenting?” Sam asked.

 

“Just for that it’s your turn to cook dinner.”

 

“It was my turn anyway. Jerk.”

 

“Bitch.” Dean got himself a soda and sat one on the table for Sam. “Whatcha got there?” He asked.

 

Sam shrugged. “Math. Sort of fell behind. Most of my other classes I’ve been able to make up the work I missed, but math builds on itself, you know? It’s taken longer to figure it all out and I’m still not up with the rest of the class yet.” He sighed. “I hate it.”

 

He could see the look in Dean’s eyes, knew that his big brother understood that he hated math and more importantly, hated not being good at what he was doing.It was something their father had never understood really.With Dean, he could screw around and be as bad as anyone and Dean could teach him, but there was always so much pressure from Dad that he felt he needed to be perfect at anything he touched.Dean reached a hand out to touch his shoulder and grasped it lightly.

 

“Don’t worry Sam. We’ll get you back to the top of the class. Though you’re way out of my math league.” He said with a smirk. “I’d offer to help, but I’d get you failed instead. But…” Dean sat there a few minutes, then disappeared out into the living room.

 

Sam stayed at the kitchen table drinking his soda as he waited for Dean. You never knew where Dean was going when he got his impulsive ideas. They were normally pretty inspired though he’d never admit it aloud. Dean had a way of thinking outside the box that never seemed to hold up well to most people. They thought because Dean didn’t do something their way that he simply couldn’t. Sam had learned a long time ago that Dean just got bored doing it that way so he didn’t. And he didn’t care what anyone thought about it either.

 

When he entered the kitchen a few minutes later he was smiling. “Alright. So, the place down on the corner? That’s the Ebright house.”

 

“Ebright? As in Ms. Ebright?”

 

“The one and only.” He said. “She needs her lawns mowed. Not too big, but there’s a front and back and she wants someone to come out once a week. Said she’d take it as barter and tutor you through until you got yourself back on track.”

 

“You already set it up?”

 

“Course. Not like you’re going to say no, is it?”

 

Sam shrugged. No, he wasn’t. “How long do I have to do it?”

 

“Just until you get your grades back. I explained it all to her. She said if things worked out after you got caught up that she’d pay you for it too. I don’t know. Give you a little spending cash Sammy. We don’t got a lot, so it could give you a bit to go out or, I don’t know. Buy things.”

 

“Dean…” he didn’t know what to say.Sam had been trying to figure out how to pay for a tutor for a week.He really was an idiot for not talking to Dean about it sooner.He should have known Dean could figure it out that quick.Of course he’d been trying to figure it out on his own, but he wasn’t above leaning on his brother when he had to.They were all they had now.If he needed to lean a little to make sure his grades went up and he could prove to the court that Dean was taking good care of him, he could lean.

 

The fact that Dean was talking about letting him keep the money from mowing lawns if he kept it up... well that was pure Dean.Dad would never have allowed that.Dad would have demanded any money they made go back into the family pot.They certainly needed every penny in the family pot now but Dean was still trying to give him the normal things he’d always wanted.Like taking a girl to a movie, or having nicer clothes that weren’t second hand thrift shop rejects.

 

He’d have cut his arm off before admitting it, but he loved his brother a little bit more for that. “Thanks.” Was all he managed to croak out.

 

Dean’s smile grew until it became that unguarded smile that only Sam got to see.“Don’t worry about it man.You know I’ve got you.”His hand gripped his shoulder again and Sam felt warmed by it before Dean left the room and returned with a backpack full of library books.He smiled at the stack of Reader’s Digest Fix It Yourself Manual and the Do It Yourself Manual.He turned his book back open to the next math problem and kept remarkable quiet as Dean opened up the Reader’s Digest Family Handyman Helpful Hints and began reading.He felt strangely warm and comfortable as their knees connected under the table.He pressed his knee slightly against Dean, felt his brother stiffen a little but then relax into the slight contact.Things were far from okay in the Winchester household, but they would survive.The one thing Sam always knew in the world had never changed.As long as he had Dean, he would always be safe and loved.End of story.


End file.
